The wings of an angel
by Windfighter
Summary: In a world where your wings tell you who your soulmate is, Lalli's says he will never meet them.
1. Lalli's wings

Prompt: "Imagine everyone in the world has wings and once someone touches their soulmate, the wings fly them both upwards and change colors from white to a perfect mix their eye colors."

Enjoy!

(I'm not even gonna try bothering about warnings any longer .)

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Lalli didn't like his wings. To begin with they were small, the same size as people who had lost their soulmate, and couldn't carry him. And since they couldn't carry him they were just in the way instead. They got caught in branches when he climed trees, wanting to get up high like everyone else could. And while most people his age had already found their soulmate and gotten their colourful wings, his was still bright white. Truthfully though, he didn't mind that. He didn't mind being alone. He just wished he could have met his soulmate once before they died.

"Lalli, come on down from there!"

Lalli let out a sigh and climbed down the tree. When his cousin called it was always best to get there quickly, or else she might drag him into something. She was beaming when he got down, her eyes bright. Her wings had already got their colours. A beautiful mix of gray, violet and green and Lalli couldn't stand looking at them. She had left a year earlier to work in a foreign country and came home with her new wings.

"I found some more people with white wings, you should meet them!"

"It's no use."

Lalli stretched his tiny wings as much as he could, so she could understand that there wasn't any need for her to continue like this. He would never meet his soulmate. She waved him off, grabbed his arm and pulled him along. He let her lead him, but none of the people were the one.


	2. Emil's wings

Emil had been declared dead. His family's house had caught fire hen he was young and he had been caught in it. When they finally managed to put the fire out Emil wasn't breathing, his heart wasn't beating. He had lost his wings, his body was badly burned, and as a result the medics declared him dead. Because he was.

And then he had started breathing again. He had spent weeks in the hospital. And when he got back home he refused to go outside.

His burns had healed now, the scars had disappeared. His wings hadn't grown back, they never would. Emil missed them. He missed being able to fly, to soar from treetop to treetop, watch the animals run far below him. He missed being able to play tag with his friends, or just being able to get anywhere. Because their village was high in the mountains and their house placed where you couldn't go by foot.

"I'm heading out, you want to come along?"

Emil let out a sigh, pushed himself off the bed and left his room. He looked at his mother, at her beautiful wings which shifted in two shades of blue. He looked away and leaned against the wall.

"Your wings can't carry two grown people."

"Should I invite someone over? I saw a girl with white wings in the store yesterday."

"Mom, it's... it's okay."

"It'd do you good to meet some people, honey."

"Perhaps", Emil pushed her towards the door, "but it's okay. I can't do things they can anyway."

"If you say so."

She kissed his head before throwing herself over the edge of the cliff. Emil watched as her wings caught the air and lifted her towards the sky. If only he could fly like that as well...


	3. Leaving the forest

Lalli knew he'd never meet his soulmate. And he was fine with it. His cousins less so. He had been forced to shake hands with everyone in the village, with everyone who came to visit the village. Even hiding inside his house didn't help, they would always find him. Hiding in the woods didn't help either, because they had figured out which trees he liked to climb. There was only one thing he could do.

He put some clothes in a bag, as well as some bread and an axe. His knife was already attatched to his belt. He swung the bag over his shoulder and peeked outside. Neither Tuuri nor Onni were visible and he hurried across the open village, dove into the forest and slid down a slope. He rolled in under a bush and got his wings stuck in its branches.

"Stupid useless things."

For a second he considered chopping them off, but he couldn't. He wriggled his body a little, got his wings unstuck and crawled further into the bush. Hours went past and his body was feeling cold, but eventually darkness fell. He looked at what little sky he could see through the leaves, noticed the stars. Nighttime. Everyone should be asleep. He crawled back out, waited quietly.

Nothing. He started moving, passed his favorite trees and kept going until he reached the river. There was a fallen log close to it and he took out his axe, started working on shaping it. He had done it before, since his wings had grown small when he was still young he had learned how to make boats instead, had spent lots of time going up and down the river and discovering their forest from the ground. He had seen sights the others would never see since they stayed in the air outside of the village.

Sun was breaking through when he was done with the small canoe. He pushed it into the river, threw the bag in it and then jumped into it himself. A long stick served as paddle and he steered the canoe away from the village. He would miss it, would miss his cousins, but this was the only thing he could do. After an hour the trees thinned out around him and he lifted one of his hands, waved towards the forest and the village.

"Goodbye Tuuri, Onni. I'll see you again some time."


	4. Leaving the mountain

_"It'd do you good to meet some people."_

Emil's mother was right, of course. And he wanted to meet people, it wasn't that. It was the stares they gave him, the whispers behind his back, the giggles when they looked at him. He couldn't stand that. He put some clothes in a bag, put it outside the house. His mother and father would be gone for another few hours, but he needed to hurry. He glanced over the edge of the cliff, gulped. It was pretty far down.

He went back into the house, gathered all curtains and bedsheets and tied them into a long rope. It wouldn't reach all the way down, but close enough.

"I'm sorry, mom."

He tied the rope around a pole, threw it over the edge and looked at the house again. He'd miss it, but his mother was right. He couldn't spend his whole life holed up in there. He let out a sigh, grabbed the rope and started the climb down. It didn't take long until his arms started aching, his legs started aching. Part of him wanted to give up, but he didn't have the strenght to pull himself back up. The only way was down.

It hadn't been an hour, but it felt like ten. There was no more rope and a three meter drop. Bushes grew right by the mountain wall, maybe he could land in one of those. He let his bag fall first, missed the bush with half a meter and then he closed his eyes and let go of the rope.

His arm scraped against the rock as he fell, branches snapped under his weight and then he stopped falling. His body hurt, blood ran down his arm, but he survived and the wound was superficial. He looked up again.

"What have I done?"

He didn't have a plan, didn't know where to go or what to do. He grabbed his bag, let out a sigh. He really only had one option now – to continue. He glanced at the mountain that had been his home for almost 20 years, lifted a hand and turned his back towards it. He didn't know what he was looking for, but he'd return when he had found it.


	5. The meeting

p align="LEFT"Lalli followed the river upstream. When night fell he made camp, slept under a fir. When he ran out of bread he hunted, placed traps for rabbits on small trails he would never have seen from the air. During the nights he got company from the stars, which lit up the darkness a little. Did his parents watch him from up there, on the Bird's Path? Would they have been disappointed that he lost his soulmate before they even met? His hand reached over his shoulder to touch his wings. They would never carry him again./p  
p align="LEFT""Are you also up there?"/p  
p align="LEFT"The stars blinked, but didn't answer him. He shouldn't care. He had been alone most of his life, he didn't mind, it was just... There emhad/em been someone meant for him, his wings had been big when he was young, he remembered flying together with his family. And like all other kids his age he had looked forward to meeting his soulmate. Until that day when his wings turned black./p  
p align="LEFT"That had been the only time he remembered crying. His wings dying and morphing into the small thing he had now had been painful, but the worst part was knowing he'd never meet that one person that would always understand him. He threw his bag into the canoe again, set off once more. Large mountains covered the horizon, how long had he travelled? For weeks, and he still didn't know what he was searching for, if he was searching for something. But at least he was alone./p  
p align="LEFT"A branch snapped. A bear? Lalli steered towards the riverbank, waited in silence. The sun burned his neck and he crouched, hid behind a bush incase it was a bear or a wolf. Five minutes, then something stumbled through the trees, fell to it's knees. A human. Lalli lifted his head, peeked over the bush. Why wasn't the person flying? The person's body shook, sank to the ground and Lalli took a step closer. There weren't any wings./p 


	6. The touch

p align="LEFT"Emil blinked, rolled over to his back. His body felt weak, it hurt to move. He closed his eyes, opened them again. A person was leaning over him, staring at his torn clothes, his messy hair and his scratched arms. He had spent weeks walking, not knowing the first thing about how to deal with the wilderness, and his body was proof of it. He opened his mouth to say something but only got a shaky breath out./p  
p align="LEFT"Water passed over his lips, into his mouth, and he swallowed greedily. It felt rejuvenating and his body relaxed slightly. The person sat down next to him, only looked at him. Emil wanted to explain, excuse his apperance, but his throat was still dry. He closed his eyes again, listened as the other got up, moved around. The sound of fire reached Emil's ears and he opened his eyes in panic as the warmth washed over him. Gray eyes looked at him again./p  
p align="LEFT""OK?"/p  
p align="LEFT"Emil nodded, relaxed again. He rested for a while, let the warmth ease the ache in his muscles, drank water when he was offered. After an hour he sat up, took in the sights of the other. He also looked worn, like he had been on the move for quite a while../p  
p align="LEFT""I'm Emil", he said, "I come from the mountains."/p  
p align="LEFT"The man looked at him, looked towards the treetops, past them, towards the mountains and then nodded./p  
p align="LEFT""Lalli. From forest."/p  
p align="LEFT"Lalli offered Emil a steaming bowl filled with food and Emil reached forward to accept it. Their fingers touched, a jolt danced through Emil's body, his back ached and then everything exploded in colours and the ground disappeared below them./p 


	7. Lalli's new wings

p align="LEFT"Lalli adored his wings. To begin with they were large, the same size as for those who had found their soulmate, and could carry him great distances. He didn't need to worry about them getting caught in trees any longer, because they could carry him above the treetops. And then there were the colours. Lalli's wings were a perfect balance of blue and gray, the colours copied from his and Emil's eyes. He had finally met his soulmate./p  
p align="LEFT""Lalli, hurry up!"/p  
p align="LEFT"Lalli let out a sigh and hurried his speed a little. When Tuuri called it was better to get there quickly or the mess she was about to put him in would get worse. She beamed at him when he caught up, their wings brushed against each other and then Lalli moved in above her. His eyes glanced at her wings, at the beautiful mix of green, violet and gray. He'd love to meet them one day./p  
p align="LEFT""We're almost where I spotted the wolves!"/p  
p align="LEFT""Can hardly wait."/p  
p align="LEFT"Lalli stretched his wings, showed them off to Tuuri again. She smiled, laughed, and grabbed his arm, pulled him along. He let her, happy to be able to be a part of something again, happy to no longer need her to look for his soulmate. Because he had already found him./p 


	8. Emil's new wings

Emil had been declared dead. Caught in a fire when he was young he had stopped breathing, his heart had stopped beating and he had spent a few minutes dead. He had lost his wings and his self-esteem and stayed in his parents' house for years.

His burns had healed, his scars disappeared. His wings had finally grown back as well. Emil loved his wings. He loved being able to soar across the sky, high above the treetops. He loved watching animals running far below him, he loved playing with the others. He loved how beautiful they were, a glittering combination of blue and gray feathers. He loved that they could carry him anywhere he wanted.

"I'm heading out, do you want to come along?"

Emil laughed, pushed himself off the bed and left his room. His mother smiled at him, her beautiful wings resting on her back and Emil smiled back.

"Not today, I have things to do."

"Do you want me to invite someone over? I meet one of your childhood friends yesterday."

"Mom, it's okay."

"I just don't want you to feel lonely."

"Really mom", he pushed her towards the door, still smiling, "it's okay. I'm going to meet up with someone tomorrow."

"Will I finally get to meet this mysterious person?"

He smiled, but refused to answer. She kissed his head before throwing herself off the cliff and Emil watched as her wings carried her away. For so long he had wanted to be able to fly like that as well and tomorrow he'd get to fly like that with Lalli.

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A/N: And that's the end! I hope you enjoyed the little story, feel free to leave a little review and I'll see you around for the next story!


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